Kim Jong-il: a typical North Korean state funeral

Thousands of wailing mourners, lines of armed soldiers, rousing military
music, a red flag-covered hearse crawling through the streets of Pyongyang:
scenes of the funeral of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il may seem a
little familiar.

By Danielle Demetriou, Tokyo

8:37AM GMT 28 Dec 2011

The carefully choreographed start of the two-day event marking the official mourning of the recently deceased leader was instantly comparable to the state funeral of his father and North Korean founder Kim Il-sung in 1994.

Weather differences aside – his father’s funeral took place in the summer in contrast to current snowy scenes of chilly wintertime Pyongyang– both funerals bear the hallmarks of a typical North Korean state event.

Key features include meticulous military-style planning, strictly controlled media access and the mobilisation of tens of thousands of citizens, against a backdrop of nationalistic pomp and ceremony.

In Pyongyang today, there were scenes of melodramatic tears from expansive crowds of black-clad mourners, swaying with grief in the winter cold as they chanted “father, father” while the flower-strewn hearse crawled through the capital.

The North Korean regime displayed hundreds of thousands of mourners in a similar state of overwhelmed grief during the funeral of his father, whose coffin was also draped in a red flag.

Perhaps more importantly, ceremony aside, the 1994 funeral was a critical attempt by the regime to shore up support and loyalty for the incoming leader and minimise succession instability.

Similarly, the two-day period of national mourning currently underway in North Korea is crucial for the late leader’s third son and successor Kim Jong-un, who is in the process of undertaking the mantle of the reclusive state.

As in 1994, experts have been analysing the funeral committee list for signs of who is most likely to rise to power or fall out of favour as the state enters into the hands of its third-generation leader.

One heavyweight player currently playing a visibly high-profile role in funeral procedures is Jang Song-thaek, brother-in-law of the late Kim, believed to be a key power broker in guiding the younger Kim through the potential turbulence of his succession.

In contrast, the late Kim’s two other sons Kim Jong-nam and Kim Jong-chol are not believed to be playing a prominent role in proceedings and were not seen during the funeral procession.

But perhaps the biggest similarity between the two funerals was the stoic presence of the state’s number one mourning successor: dressed in black, the younger Kim brought to mind images of his father playing a similar role as head mourner in 1994.